Mi Vida

Okay so i'm going to try not to disappear form years at a time, I was, believe it or not, very good at this consistency thing at one stage. So i've got so much to write about varying from now and my time away and i'll probably be jumping erratically between the two for a while, which is sort of how my mind works anyway. it's all over the shop.

so firstly, got some big news today, my boss said he'd like to extend my contract for three more months!! i was like AHYESPLEASE! so now i've got the next four months of my life planned. wheeee. since year 11 i've pretty much had a plan for the next 2+ years so going into this year without a solid plan for more than a month was scary, i had to work really hard to let it go and embrace the 'what will be will be/everything happens for a reason/it will all work out you'll see' mentality. i was going to do teaching this year but was really lacking motivation last semester and not really feeling the teaching thing. I would be no good at motivating high schoolers if i cant even motivate myself, ya know? so if i get in, offers come out on the 14th, i'll defer it and see what happens career wise before i think about studying again.

I tell you what i would love to do though: travel. this is my biggest news of the past however long. I was selected to go on an over seas design study tour during the winter break to America! i went to lovely San Francisco and the best city in the world New York! i never thought you could legit fall in love with a place but it happened. it took months before my heart stopped aching every time i thought of NY. both are amazing cities but theres this thing and NY, if you've been you'll know what i mean...i'm crazy desperate to get back there. Pretyt much my life goal has become to work there one day.....okay so i havent to europe yet and people tell me if i think NY is great i'll love London but i just don't see it. 

See the thing about NY is, i freaking have cities. i dont even like going into the CBD here. a bustling hub is not my idea of a great escape—and then there are the crowds. i hate people and having them in my space ALL THE TIME, but i didn't once get sick of the group (we literally ate, slept, bused, planed, trained, taxied, walked, everything together) or the hustle and bustle of times square, which by the way is magical. Since coming back i have a sneaky stalker visit to Times Sqaure earthcam every so often and it makes me smile, even the sound of the traffic. okay i have to stop, i always feel like i'm gonna bore people when i go an adoring NYC rant. i'm sure more specific tales of my month long adventure will arise in future posts cos it was a massive experience, probably one of the best ive ever had. I'll have to sig up some pics to post :)

oh crud 11.30, i have to get up early tomorrow, i better head off—i'm working really hard to convert my night owl into a, well, not morning bird cos that will never happen but day bird at least.

talk soon.

peace x

My year in the world of The Arts...yes TV counts :P

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Check out this amazing trailer for Maggie Stiefvaters upcoming novel Scorpio Races...did i mention she did the animation, wrote the music and performed the music, all for a book she wrote?! talk about over achieving! THANK-YOU MAGGIE FOR YOUR AWESOMENESS :D

Now you want a copy right? (if not dont worry we can get you help) click this awesome link to preorder a signed copy:  http://www.fountainbookstore.com/a…

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 Lovely Lisa over at Read Me Bookmark Me Love Me has an awesome Contest running at the moment. You could win signed copies of Maria V Snyders Inside Out and Outside In (so a complete set :D). I havent read these yet but i've heard wonderful things and if her Study series is anything to go by they'll live up to their reputation. and the best part? its international! so get entering for this great prize...or not, you know, so my chances are higher :P


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 Well this is is turning out pretty grand, by the time new year rolls around ill have met 7, possibly 8, authors. Its amazing its like every US publisher realised at the exact same time that Australia is quiet a big market and that it is actually worth flying them out here.

So who are the authors?

Well been and gone there was:
Rachel Caine
Kristin Kashore
Cassandra Clare

who was all lovely and amazing - especially Kristin for making a quick pit stop via Dymocks on the way to her event to meet us who'd already committed to the cassie clare event, THANK-YOU!!

Coming up in August we have:
Lauren Kate
Maria V Snyder
Kelley Armstrong

And then in September:
Maggie Stiefvater - who i am literally bouncing off the walls (and leaving a few marks) for! i CAN NOT WAIT to meet her!!

All pretty big names which is why this year is turning out so huge! man next year had better start fretting - i wouldn't be surprised if it suffered performance anxiety!

oh and the maybe 8th author is Alexandra Adornetto, who is australian (woo!), and has mentioned and australian tour for Hades but nothing official has been said yet so we'll have to wait and see.

Today i bought Torment and Enticed - i wish Jessica Shirvington (another talented aussie) would tour australia...hmm maybe for emblaze? :D

anyway thats all on the author front and im too lazy to think of other stuff to write :P i want to get back to blood bound, its really good.

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 Well yesterday was massive. First ill get the boring stuff out of the way....
I only had one class yesterday (woo) and in that class we had an assessment task (boo). the assessment task was a mock job interview (double boo). i was SO nervous since ive never had a proper interview before, they've all just been on the spot questions about my resume etc....maybe that why im still jobless :-/ oh well, to ponder that would probably depress so moving right along. I practiced with my mum and sister the night before so i was feeling quiet, well not relaxed, but prepared (sort of) for it. My teacher was happy to see id practiced and said i had a nice clear voice which was a bit of a shocker since im always told i need to learn to project my voice. so yeah assessment went well. though all the nervous energy i'd worked up before it left me extremely tired afterwards. and afterwards, trust me, i needed all the energy i could get.

why?

cos yesterday afternoon was made of awesomeness!! I met Kristin Cashore AND Cassandra Clare! can you believe it? TWO amazingly talented authors in one afternoon!?!?! 

So, the play by play /edited because im tired :P/

My friend L came over around 12, we ate lunch, i told her of my assessment and exhaustion which she understood - its great having a friend who often feels the same was as you do about things - so we prepared our bags, figuring out the best way to pack them so as no books were damaged. so after we were happy with our packing skills we left for the. neither of us had finished City of Fallen Angels in time for the signing...well L hadnt even started City of Glass (i know *tut tut*) so we spent most of the tram ride reading and giggling to ourselves courtesy of Jaces humour :P

We got there around 2 and dashed to dymocks to pick up our copies of Graceling and Fire (Kristin Cashores masterpieces) which are SO hard to find, later i found out why: the publishers had actually run out of Fire - i didn't even know this was possible but there you go. luckily Dymocks got there stock in on thursday - i get they let out a massive sigh of relief too! I was super pleased cos they are very pretty editions, i though i was going to be stuck with these ugly black-ish ones:

see? im not a fan of those so when i was handed these, i think i may have let a little gasp slip :P - you can laugh but you know how important covers are to me, its what i want to do 'when i grow up' :P so this is a quick photo i snapped just then but you can see how much prettier they are...

So we picked up our books and headed back to flinder st to pick up our friend S, who can you believe it, doesnt know where dymocks is *jaw drops*...well she does now i guess :P so now with S in tow we headed back to meet Kristin who was a little late but her signing was an informal one so no one minded. We also met up with J there, who stayed up till 6.30am one night reading Graceling cos she loved it so much! 
Krisitn was lovely, she told me about how she names her characters and i told her i coundn't wait to read Fire and for the release of Bitterblue. She was so gracious and thanked us for coming to see her, which i told her was an absolute pleasure. We managed to get pictures with her as well before she left.

so then there was a one and half hour break till the cassandra clare event started and cassandra wasn't due to arrive until 5.30.....we sat in the dymocks cafe and i wished for a pillow.

*one and a half hours later*

we got our selves prime seats (on the floor which killed my back and legs but was totally worth it :P) right in front of the platform dymocks had set up for her. Jess and i had dressed up - sort of - for the costume contest but when we saw the extent some people had gone to we quickly thought better of it (incase you were wondering i went as Simon as a rat - funny, yes good enough to win, no :P). so the hour before cassandra arrived there was a trivia session were chuppa chups were thrown out and at the end there was a tally, the most chuppa chups one a massive clockwork prince cover poster. i have to say i like the cover but im not loving it the way i love the clockwork angel one (i could go into a whole critique about it but i have a feeling no one else cares as much as i do. lol). so then cassie arrived and she read us an exclusive excerpt from clockwork prince - it sounds amazing and left me going 'aww Will you're not such an ass after all' lol. i cant wait for its release now! before the event we were asked to write down two questions each on little cards for cassie to answer. so after she'd finished reading clockwork prince it was onto the questions - there were some good ones and i was really happy when one of mine was asked: 'i heard city of fallen angels was originally going to be a comic, is this true? if so was it hard filling it out to be a novel?' turns out it was true but the people who had bought it went broke so cassie took it tosimon and schuster (her publisher) and they said they think it would make a better novel (thank goodness!) and so the next three mortal instruments books were signed *fist pump*.
after questions it was onto the signing. i have to say when it comes to signing people go backards in the evolution cycle - 'we' (as in the human race) cant even form a straight line. L and I made our way to the back of the line - our favourite place to be - S bolted for the front abd J went of in search of a bathroom. by the time she came back S had left (can you believe she only brought one book even though she ownes them all? weirdo. obviously an author signing virgin :P) and L and I had moved all of 2 inches in the line. We were in the line for an hour which sounds bacd but had nothing on the Richelle signing (hello two hours!).
When we finally got nearer the front cassies helper took my books to get them ready to be signed. Cassie noted i had the US hard covers which created the opening for me to tell her that i love book covers and designing them was something i'd love to do, she was really excited by this and told me of her own lacking artistic abilities :P she told me the name of her cover artist and how he goes about doing them - he actually take sthe photos himself them paints over them by hand to create that otherworldliness. oh and he's LA based so im defs heading there one day to track him down! after L and J got theres signed too we hoped back in line to ask her assistant if we could get a photo with her, turns out she didnt want photos but the lady gave us signed postcards and extra posters to make up for it which was awesome! L and J asked cass to sign them which she did (she was so lovely), J got hers signed to her friend T who couldnt make the event AND yesturday was her birthday as well so the message on the poster read: To T, Happy birthday - Cassie Clare' which was so nice of her - she must have been exhausted and hungry by this point (oh i dont know 8.30 - 8.45pm :P) - i was starving! 

well, that was about it i think. OH i totally forgot! I won one of the competitions that was run before the event! it the comp was: take a photo of yourself in a fantastical urban environment....heres mine - edited a little cos im kind pulling a face in it :P

I'm just really glad they liked it! it scored me a set of books published by simon and shuster, has anyone read these? are they good?

and a mortal instruments poster which cassie signed for me :D

so yesterday was exhausting and amazing and the best!
xo

 oooh procrastination its been awhile, lets catch up :)

im totally addicted to true blood but ive had to ban myself from it cos it literally keeps me up till 5 in the morning (i cant handle cliffhangers) its been awhile since i've watched it and i really want to get back into it but i cant at least until assessment is over. OH and pretty little liars, also addicted to this, i have one ep left of S1 - things arent looking good for aria and ezra - its taking ALL my self control not to watch it because S2 doesnt start till June 6 and i dont want to be forced to wait so im holding off on finishing S1. Hawaii five-0 is tuurning out even more awesome than id hoped and i'm so freaking happpy for alex! its about bloody time he had some success!! now all i have to do is fly to hawaii so we can meet 'accidentally' so he can fall head over heals for me and and we'll run of into the hawaiian sunset for a little while. speaking of hawaii i still havent watched last weeks ep - okay im making a deal with myself with anyone who reads this as my witness: its my reward for doing 3 tasks on my to do list (there are 8 things on the list - maybe i should set the bar higher...nah) 

im totally behind in my reading too! i made a goal of reading 60 books this year. ive read liek 22 or something but at the moment im 2 books behind my target as goodreads kindly reminds me everytime i sign in -__-. im STILL reading glass houses which is awesome but getting in the way of geting through my library books and getting to City of Fallen Angels, which i HAVE to have read by next friday when i get to meet Cassie Clare and i LOVE Jace and Clary and i just have to get on it. 
Two weeks ago i got to meet Rachel Caine, author of glass houses, she was amazing, so funny! shes so persistent, her message is to never give up on what you love. did you know she was dropped twice before her success with morganvill vampires? yeah and rachel caine isn't her real name (because she failed under her maiden and married names)....so yeh i think i should find time to dedicate to Lacey and the others. i havent really touched them in a while, i miss them but am seriously lacking in time.

well thats all i can think of right now, i have to get on my homework so i can watch hawaii five-0. oh yeah - its the season final of ncis next week :( it cant end yet....maybe, just maybe, white collar will come back *perks up* mozie has to live!!

xo

Well i went to the Gustave Moreau: The Eternal Feminine today. it was amazing! the space was surprisingly small for the amount of art they managed to squeeze into the space. It was set up like a room within a room and the paintings were just incredible! I found out today that when Moreau was young his parents bought a six story estate in his name, he lived there of course when he came of age and once his parent died he turns three or four of those levels into an in house museum dedicated to his family and his art. Its seriously amazing and on my list of places to go.

see amazing!
a bunch of the decorative antiques he inherited from his beloved friend Alexandrine:

it even has a spiral staircase!

the place is amazing and Gustave Moreau was an ah-mazing artist. Oh did i mention this place is in Paris? yeah not bad huh? ;P

The art showed in this exhibition focuses on the sexual female who leads the male to eventual death, destruction or combination of the two while acting seemingly unaware. His paintings are based on poems, myths and bible stories. The femme fatales that are featured in the exhibition are Cleopatra, Delilah and Sampson, Europa and Jupiter, Helen of Troy, The Sirens, Sphinx, Bathsheba, Deianira and Hercule, Galatea and Polyphemus and the whole Unicorns and Virgins thing (i'm not totally familer with it but basically the idea that unicorns are crazy wild creatures and only one virgin can control each unicorn...i dunno...) - i couldn't tell you much about the stories accept that basically the man was doomed by the woman. Moreau seemed a bit obsessed with tales of dangerous women, like he blamed women for early misfortune or something but either way he sure was curious with the old tales and spent a lot of time drawing and painting them. A lot of his back-upu sketches were included in the exhibition which was amazing to see how he came to the final piece and the changes he made along the way.

a few of my favourite pieces were; The Apparition, this is horrible quality but its hard to find a reproduction that shows the white lines - its seriously amazing in person, like he paints the shadows for tome and form but the detail was all outlines in white paint (which looks like gel pen :P) it was just so unbelievable - i will definitely be turning to this piece for inspiration at some point this year!

This piece, Venice, was so SO beautiful as well - its so delicate and seeing some of the backup sketches/plans that went into it made me appreciate it even more!

Oh and this one was so etherial, despite the destruction. It kind of reminds me of galadriel in lord of the rings, this is Helen on the walls of Troy;

and heres an example of one of his sketches!

crazy details, in proportion and amazing right!?
It was great being able to look closely at his technique as well and recognising some of the techniques our teachers had told us, especially in this one. The Sirens;

if you look closely at it in person (lol) you can see that there is not black just dark blues and purples and that each colour used is balanced somewhere else in the painting with highlights of the same colour.
I realised while looking at the paintings that i'm not actually very familiar with  a lot of the tales and found my self interested to learn more so i'll definitely be looking into some of these...though its a bummer it was right at the end of my holidays - i start back monday...at 8.30am. kill me now!

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Hey did anyone else know that Moonlight was based on a book?! Well it turns out it was - the origional screenplay was written by the author, i know, i know - which book? well turns out it wasn't even published back then. It was only published this year! apparently its a lot darker and grittier than the show and Mick Angel (yeah i prefer St John..) is a bit more of a monster...I'm still going to try and get my hands on a copy ;) i mean its moonlight - sort of - and im thinking gif the book does amazingly (which im not counting on) maybe, MAYBE, we'll finally get our Mick movie! :D
So heres the book: Angel of Vengeance by Trevor Munson

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I went to a curators talk today about the Dreams Come True exhibition currently on in Melbourne and am SO glad i did. i havent really read any of the traditional/original tales that Disney's fairytales are based on and was shocked to hear what some of them are about. I also learnt about a few of the key animators and concept artists in beauty and the beast, cinderella and snow white. did you guys know the concept artist for the famous cinderella pumpkin to carriage scene was by an Aussie? yep im feelin' all proud right now :D

I learnt a bit too, like if it weren't for Cinderella's success Disney would have gone bankrupt (much like Borders is right now) and that would have been it - can you imagine childhood without disney?! i can't. so thank goodness for Cinderella - i love it even more now :D
Snow White was the first full length animated feature with each cell individually painted.
The Little Mermaid which they originally started only a short while after Cinderella was put on hold for thirty years and was mostly made to re-establish the animation departments value after live action films/ tv shows became a focus for the disney studios - Walt himself was busy working on disney world. I have to say thank goodness (again) that the animation department was in trouble because Little Mermaid will always be my favourite disney princess movie :)
Melbourne was also incredibly lucky to be able to include concept art for Tangled in the exhibition. tangled hadn't been apart of the original exhibit in New Orleans (which was put together after the cyclone and thus had waaay more princess and the frog art). melbourne was lucky because disney rarely allows their work to be displayed BEFORE the movie is released (the exhibit opened last november, tangled open late January) which is also why there are no finished works included in the exhibition.
Disney also has an animation library that is closed to the public, but animators refer to old concept sketches from the 30's - it stores over 6 million pieces.

I havent been to the actual exhibition yet and now i absolutely can't wait to go. i'll probs be in there for aaaggess staring at the beautiful sketches and paintings. im thinking next week at some point...



also while im here i'm just going to shed a tear for borders. it's odd cos i dont purchase from them often but i like to know its there, you know? to brows the shelves and get comfy in the in-store cafe (one of the best place sin the world). i read this article and now am a tad worried for hard copy books. personally i will never convert to electronic books by choice - my eyes hate me enough already for the amount of time i spend staring  at screens and you cant put ebooks on display or take pride in their condition. i reject them in every way.
POWER TO THE PAPERBACKS!


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